1. 'When Daddy was a Little Boy' by Alexander Raskin (1961)
A collection of funny and heartwarming stories from a dad to his daughter.
Dear Reader,
We are delighted to revive ‘When Daddy was a little boy’ by Alexander Raskin for your reading pleasure. This collection of beloved stories from our childhood was lost to the world post the disintegration of Soviet Union in 1991.
Last year, Nandini stumbled upon this treasured copy; a present from her dad to her brother in 1985.
Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing one story with you every evening at 8 PM IST. You can read them aloud to your children at bed time, and also to your inner child :)
Receive each story straight in your inbox.
A word from the author
Dear Children,
I want to tell you how I came to write this book. I have a daughter named Sasha. She is a big girl now and often says, when speaking about herself, "When I was little...." Well, when Sasha was very little she was often ill. She had the grippe, and a sore throat and an infected ear. If you have ever had an infected ear, you know how it hurts. And if you haven't, there is no use explaining, for you will never understand anyway.
Once Sasha's ear hurt so badly that she cried for a whole day and a whole night. She couldn't sleep at all. I felt so sorry for her that I was ready to cry myself. And so I read to her and told her funny stories. I told her a story about how I had thrown my new ball under a car when I was little. Sasha liked the story very much. She was surprised to discover that her daddy had also been little once, that he had got into mischief and had also been punished. She remembered the story and whenever her ear would begin to hurt, she'd shout: "Daddy, Daddy! My ear hurts! Tell me a story about when you were a little boy."
And each time I would tell her a story. You will find all of them in this book.
I tried to remember all the funny things that had ever happened to me, for I wanted to make a sick girl smile. Besides, I wanted my girl to understand that it was not nice to be greedy or boastful or stuck-up. That doesn't mean I was always like that. Sometimes, when I couldn't think of a story, I would borrow one from other daddies I knew. After all, every daddy was once a little boy. So you see, none of these stories were invented, they all happened to little boys. Now Sasha is a big girl, she's hardly ever ill and can read great big books all by herself.
But I thought that perhaps other children might like to know what happened to one daddy when he was a little boy.
That's all I wanted to say. But wait! There is something else. There is more to this book. Each one of you can discover the rest for yourself, for your own daddy can tell you about when he was a little boy. And so can your mummie. I would love to hear their stories too.
Wishing you the best of everything,
Your friend,
A. Raskin
Thank you for reading. The first story drops tomorrow night at 8 PM IST.
Enhance your reading habit with us:
Do you remember reading Daddy was a Little Boy when you were little? Tell us more about your memories :)